Nov 19, 2008

Quote of the Day (qotd)

"Its about the Jewish tradition, it's about Jewish history. - But we need to keep the nature, the character of the state of Israel as a Jewish state because this is - excuse me for using French - the raison d'etre of the state of Israel"

-----FM Tzipi Livni

"Excuse me for using French"? This is what she says to a conference of Jews from around the world? As if they would have no idea what the words "raison d'etre" mean because they are French?

Pardon my French, or Excuse my French, is usually a phrase reserved for excusing yourself for using a curse word or other profanity. Not for actually saying something in French.

since i don't know the context, i'll base it on solely on the facts as you put it. she was talking to jews around the world, so it was probably in english. but as she's talking about the "jewish nature" of the state, to depart from hebrew is already ironic. but to turn to french, now that's downright anti-semetic!

I'm going with the last commenter and I think she was being a bit ironic and even twisting the English phrase a bit, which is impressive for an Israeli government official because most of them can barely speak English.

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About Me

I am a regular Joe with a Yeshiva background. I learned in Telshe Yeshiva, Heichal HaTorah (R' Tzvi Kushelevsky), and a now defunct Halacha Kollel. I have semicha from R' Zalman Nechemia Goldberg and kaballa in Shechita from Dayan Schwartz of Kehillas HaYeraim (Chomas HaKashrus). I have a college degree in Finance from Touro College and am also a Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer.
My wife and I, with our 8 children, ben porat yosef (knayna hara), live in Eretz Yisrael.